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Guide for New Stadium Permit Holders
This guide is intended to assist new stadium permit holders in getting a good start in their first season in league play. Game mechanics are not covered here, there are detailed help pages available for that. Stadiums * Spend the majority of your loan money on your Major stadium. Major stadiums produce more revenue than an equivalent AAA version. * Build only high-quality seating (3 stars and up). A low capacity will not hurt you, but a big empty stadium with no booths will. * Best bang for the buck is at home plate, then first/third base, then outfield. * Start off small. You can always add to your stadium in subsequent seasons. A large stadium to begin can hurt you if your fan base is too small. * Your fans won't be upset if your seating isn't symmetrical. In fact, it's usually not the best option. * The ticket price optimizer is good, but you may be able to get a bit more revenue for the upcoming season yourself. Setting low (e.g. $0.01) ticket prices before running the optimizer will yield better results. * Build toilets in every section. Team stores are excellent if you have room, food stands are good for 1 slot. * Spend as much as you can afford to on advertising. Cut down on seating if necessary. Advertising generates fans, and more fans means higher ticket prices and revenue. * Take note of the cost per buzz, some ads are more cost effective than others. * Buy as much advertising as you can for the full season, and any left over should go at the beginning of the season to maximize revenue. * You can purchase ads mid-season. If your team does better than expected and you have extra revenue, go back and finish buying ads for the rest of the year. * Re-optimize your ticket prices every season. As your fan base grows, your ability to charge more for tickets grows. * The budget percent does not change your revenue, but it will limit how much you can offer for contracts. Too low, and you won't have enough budgeted for next season's offers. Too high, and you may limit the amount available for contracts in later seasons. In most cases, the budget for players for next season should be just over your league's salary cap if possible. Leagues * Join a low cap league. You start out with a loan of $6,630,838.10 (as of 2041), most of which will go towards a stadium (or 2) and advertising. You will not earn a lot of revenue in your first season, so you won't be able to afford much for player salaries. * Join a Rookie League if you can. You can draft and develop players, sign them to contracts and bring them up through your system. * There are typically one or more leagues designated as "newbie" leagues for first season permit holders. They are probably your best option. * The league fan bonus (the black numbers on the Leagues page) will give you higher attendance and/or allow you charge more for tickets. However, leagues with higher bonuses will generally have more difficult competition. The right balance is up to you. * Fan growth from away games is calculated using the opposing team's advertising buzz. It is in your best interest that the other owners in your league are active and informed. Signing Players * As of 2036, The Park has an age cap of 21. All current 18 - 20 year old players CAN NOT be signed to a contract. 17 year old rookies can ONLY be signed by the owner that drafts them. * Never make a public offer on a non-contract player. EVER! ANYONE that makes a public offer on a non-contracted player is a moron. * Use the Watch List to find players to sign. Select Unsigned Players from the 2nd drop-down box and a sort method in the last drop-down box. * Take note of training bonus levels when signing players. Players with these amounts of PAs or IPs are better choices than players without bonus levels, even if they have slightly higher attributes. * For the most part, you shouldn't make any public offers before your first league season. The purpose of public offers is to raise the cost of a contract extension for the current owner. * Never make a public offer unless the 1-year value is significantly higher than the market value. These offers will have no effect except to take up one of your available contract offers and to alert other owners of your interest in the player. * Don't make any private offers with 1-year values under $1000 in the first round. Players will not accept an offer below $1000 until the second round. * Don't worry too much about player age when signing players. You goal should be to build up your fans and revenue quickly, and older players will not be offered salaries as high as younger players with similar attributes. Signing a few younger players to develop is fine, but don't sacrifice your ability to win games. You'll have more money in future seasons to afford top prospects. * Players age 33 and over have a good chance to decline during the next off-season, the severity of which increases with age. Keep that in mind when considering contract length. * You can use non-contract players on your league teams, but in most cases you can sign a better player with a very inexpensive contract. * You should aim to sign at least 5 starting pitchers, 6 relief pitchers, and 9 position players. If you sign too many players at a position, it can be difficult for them to reach training bonus levels. * Don't spend too much of your budget or salary cap on any one player. As a new league team, you have holes at every position and your offer amounts should all be in a fairly small range. * Set buyouts when offering contracts. As long as the buyout amount doesn't reduce the 1-year value of the contract, it's not hurting anything and it gives you more flexibility in the future.